TIRANA, Feb. 8 – Police in Albania have detained six people suspected of smuggling undocumented people into Albania.
The six men were part of an 18-member group that is suspected of aiding non-European migrants and refugees refugees make their way to Western Europe.
Prosecutors had been investigating the group since last September when 100 people, mainly from Syria, made their way into Albania through neighboring Greece.
A statement issued by the Prosecution’s Office said that the refugees would travel to Kosovo hidden in trucks, then make their way to Serbia and reach EU countries such as Germany or Austria.
Prosecutors said that each of the smuggled people reportedly paid 900 to 1,250 euros for the whole route.
Northern Albania is a key transit path for hundreds of migrants that eye Europe as their final destination.
Larger groups of migrants try their luck crossing countries such as Greece, Serbia and Hungary.
The human smuggling market is worth hundreds of millions of Euros.
Data published by the organization The Migrant’s Files, a consortium of journalists from 15 European countries, show that a trip from Syria to Germany costs about 2,500 euros per person.
According to Migrant’s Files, refugees from Arab countries have paid 16 billion euros to smugglers since 2000.
The chain of profit includes recruiters, boat captains, middlemen, people who rent out illegal apartments, scouts and money launderers.
